Tests on vision are important not only in ophthalmology to diagnose eye diseases such as those of the retina and optic nerve, but also in neurology or brain surgery to diagnose intracranial diseases, and various kinds of test apparatuses or charts, such as Goldmann perimeter and Humphrey perimeter, have been conventionally used.
Test methods using conventional apparatuses or charts, however, limit test items to one per apparatus or chart. When multiple test items such as metamorphopsia and color defective vision need testing, multiple apparatuses or charts are needed for the test, which is time-consuming and troublesome. In addition to being troublesome, it requires the continuous attention of persons being tested, or subjects, causing their fatigue. Furthermore, the use of the conventional test apparatuses or charts makes it difficult for the subjects to become aware of their abnormal regions, and hence to figure out their symptoms.
Further, since conventional test apparatuses are very big, floor-mounted type apparatuses, they are difficult to carry around. In the case of the use of a test apparatus using light as a visual target, a test-specific space and environment that provide a “semidark” room has been required. In such a case, any subject has to come over to the installation site of the test apparatus and maintain a predetermined position to undergo a test, and this makes it very difficult for bedridden patients to undergo the test.
Further, a patient who is not aware of early symptoms of each disease causing visual impairment does not know that he or she has the disease until after the disease reaches such an advanced stage that subjective symptoms appear, he or she visits a medical institution and the disease is diagnosed by ophthalmology. Thus there has been a problem that early detection of the disease is difficult.
Therefore, the development of an eye test chart capable of carrying out eye tests of multiple items simultaneously and easily has been strongly desired.